Fresh Fabrics For Spring

After a post-Puyallup Expo lull, new fabrics are arriving nearly daily!

Who's hungry for sushi? This fresh combo would make fun kitchen accessories like the French Flea Market Apron (which includes a kid size as well as an adult one), accents on towels, or maybe even some fun Pea Pod or other zip bags.

Maker Maker's graphically simple cats and dogs, and a collection of nubby linens from Lecien have a quiet, minimalist color palette perfect for totes and table runners.

Another lovely neutral collection is Destination Paris from Windham Fabrics. Are you dreaming of a European vacation yet?

Check out this purple and orange and blue from Robert Kaufman, Anthology, M&S (Australian), and P&B -- who knew they'd all look so rich and delicious together? Well, we kind of did.

We've refreshed our beachy blues and corals.

We've got a super cute collection of juvenile fabrics from Makower UK, mixed with some of our favorite basics, ready to be made into baby quilts and more!

And, Carrie Bloomston's Dreamer collection is finally here. We're making kits for our Hip To Dream and Lucy's Garden sample quilts, as well as having yardage for you to choose your own adventure!

Westside Modern Quilt Club March 2017

 We had a fun night in March, starting with some very silly texting for seniors jokes from Geri. 

Catching up on news, the Clark County Quilt Show is this weekend! Go check it out at the fairgrounds in Ridgefield, WA April 6—8.

The Mid-Valley Quilt Guild is having their annual show April 20—22 at the Polk County Fairgrounds in Rickreall, OR.

Don't forget about our Aboriginality Challenge: bring in your quilt, garment, bag, etc, 40" wide or less, by April 15th. We'll display the works until June 15th. We'll have a viewer's choice winner too!

We're also thinking about our Transitions challenge for the Northwest Quilting Expo in September. Check previous blog posts for details, but basically, your modern quilt (any size) inspired by a family heirloom or otherwise inspirational older quilt is due by August 15th. We'll have our usual potluck and unveiling at Millennium Park. We'll pair the quilts with a poster of their inspiration. More details to come on the poster, but be thinking about having a photo that you can print out at COSTCO.

Lilly is coordinating an exhibit of our Tribal Winds challenge quilts at the Lake Oswego Library to celebrate their remodel. If you participated in tribal Winds and have not yet gotten your email info to Lilly, please call us at the shop to get connected.

For our main presentation, our own Kristin La Flamme led us through four steps to critiquing our quilts from an art point of view. Getting beyond "like" or "don't like" when we are analyzing our use of colors, scale, composition, or perhaps even intent, can help us grow as artists and makers. We learned to first Describe, then Analyze, then Interpret, and finally (if desired) Judge. Then we broke into four groups and practiced our investigative skills with a variety of Kristin's quilts. Moving around and discussing in small groups was a great change of pace.

Show and Tell was short but sweet, and our favorite part of the evening as always.

Cathy brought her flannel pinwheels which she had originally made as a class sample, and now it will be raffled at her church to support their Mission program.

Lorie and Lilly participated in our Quilt Till You Wilt pizza party. They used the "2 For One Best Friends" pattern which cleverly lets you cut once to make two quilts. These will be donated to the NW CARES program.

Mardi shared her Farmer's Wife quilt. The blocks all have meaning to her and many reflect specific likes such as fishing. Check out our Facebook page for another photo of this beauty!

Robin's Quilt As You Go "Family Album" is so fun and unique.

Theresa brought her pretty — and seasonally appropriate, "Road to Ireland."